Alleged cop killers freed
2010-10-11 17:17:05 | (1 Comments)
A jury in the Home Circuit Court today returned a not guilty verdict for two men who were accused of murdering 31-year-old police constable Richard Taylor in September 2006.
The men are 27-year-old Sheldon Bent and 23-year-old Andre Bent, both of Point Hill in St Catherine, Jamaica.
The policeman's body, with gunshot wounds, was found in a pond on the Worthy Park Estate in the parish.
The body was badly decomposed and a piece of rope attached to a motorcar engine was tied around the waist.
A witness had testified that on the night of September 5, 2006, he saw the two accused in a motorcar which was being driven by the policeman.
The witness admitted under cross-examination that the windows of the motorcar were tinted.
It was suggested to him that he could not have seen the persons in the car but the witness denied the suggestion.
Human blood was found in the motorcar but the DNA tests could not determine whether the blood belonged to the cop.
After the Crown closed its case, defence lawyers Velma Hylton and Pamela Shoucair Gayle made no case submissions on the grounds that the Crown did not prove its case against the men.
Supreme Court Judge Donald McIntosh upheld the submissions and directed a Home Circuit Court jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
2010-10-11 17:17:05 | (1 Comments)
A jury in the Home Circuit Court today returned a not guilty verdict for two men who were accused of murdering 31-year-old police constable Richard Taylor in September 2006.
The men are 27-year-old Sheldon Bent and 23-year-old Andre Bent, both of Point Hill in St Catherine, Jamaica.
The policeman's body, with gunshot wounds, was found in a pond on the Worthy Park Estate in the parish.
The body was badly decomposed and a piece of rope attached to a motorcar engine was tied around the waist.
A witness had testified that on the night of September 5, 2006, he saw the two accused in a motorcar which was being driven by the policeman.
The witness admitted under cross-examination that the windows of the motorcar were tinted.
It was suggested to him that he could not have seen the persons in the car but the witness denied the suggestion.
Human blood was found in the motorcar but the DNA tests could not determine whether the blood belonged to the cop.
After the Crown closed its case, defence lawyers Velma Hylton and Pamela Shoucair Gayle made no case submissions on the grounds that the Crown did not prove its case against the men.
Supreme Court Judge Donald McIntosh upheld the submissions and directed a Home Circuit Court jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
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